Southeast Missouri School Band Association To Perform Concert, Hold Clinics

Feb. 5, 1999 --

The Southeast Missouri School Band Association will perform a concert and hold instrumental clinics Feb. 13 on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

The concert is scheduled for 9 a.m. in Academic Auditorium. The concert will feature three trumpet trios, performing “Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury” and “Bugler’s Holiday.” A low brass quartet will perform “Bach Chorale,” a flute quartet will perform “Sausmann Quartet (I),” and Brian Brinker will perform a snare drum solo. Also performing during the concert will be a woodwind quartet, a horn trio, a brass quartet and a serenade for 10 winds.

Following the concert, brass and percussion clinics, for trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, percussion and euphonium players, will be held at 10 a.m. in Brandt Music Hall and on Academic Hall’s stage. A woodwind clinic, for flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe and bassoon players will be held at 10 a.m. in the University Center.

Each clinic will be divided into beginning (grades five and six), intermediate (grades seven through nine) and advanced (grades 10 through 12) sections.

David Copperfield, who has been heralded as "The World's Greatest Illusionist" around the globe will present his extraordinary show "U!" at the Show Me Center April 7.

The show will be the centerpiece of Southeast Missouri State University's 125th Anniversary April Showcase Month. Copperfield will present two shows at 6 and 9 p.m.

Captivating critics and audiences alike, Copperfield will take "U!" on a journey through the history and wonder of the "Art of Magic." With his show "U!," Copperfield once again proves to be the master of his art, testing the limits of reality with interactive illusions in which "U!" the audience, will take part.

In one astounding feat of magic, 13 randomly selected members of the audience will gather on stage, in full view of family and friends, only to vanish moments later. In another illusion, Copperfield delights in bringing an ordinary necktie to life, only to find out that the tie has a life of its own. The show will feature such audience favorites as "Cocoon," an instantaneous transformation of the body; walking through the rotating blades of a giant industrial fan; and Copperfield's signature illusion, "Flying," which took him six years to create.

Copperfield also will mesmerize his fans with intimate close-up magic and sleight-of-hand, including another new interactive illusion involving a piece of paper, the moon, and "U!," each and every member of the audience -- proving once again, that it doesn't always take grand and dangerous illusions to astound.

Nonetheless, Copperfield has performed many such incredible stunts. In 1983, Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. He has successfully walked through the Great Wall of China and levitated himself across the Grand Canyon. He is the first person to have escaped from Alcatraz, has successfully challenged the Bermuda Triangle and risked death by plunging over the precipice of Niagara Falls.

Copperfield has been hailed by audiences around the world as the greatest magician of our time. He has been seen worldwide by more people than any other magician in history, including Houdini, and has elevated the art of magic to new heights, redefining this ancient art along the way. He has broken the mold of the master magician. Soft spoken, witty, engaging and supremely entertaining, Copperfield's modern approach to a very old art has transformed the way the world looks at magic. His celebrated feats and sense of theater have led him to be twice named "Entertainer of the Year." He is the only living magician to receive his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1994, Copperfield traveled to Europe and performed in seven countries and more than a dozen cities. In France, he was knighted by the French Government, receiving the Chevalier of Arts and Letters, the first ever for an illusionist. He has performed seven times for presidents of the United States. He owns The International Museum and Library of the conjuring Arts, the world's largest repository of antiquarian books, magic, illusions and other ephemera on magic and the allied arts.

Cost of tickets for his Show Me Center performances are $45 for floor level seats, $38 for first level seats, $29 for second level seats and $25 for second level corner seats. Students 18 and under will receive a $5 discount on each ticket price. Groups of 20 or more will receive a $3 discount off the price of each ticket. Southeast Missouri State University students with a valid I.D. will receive a $14 discount through the Student Activities Council (SAC) Advantage program.

Tickets may be purchased at the Show Me Center Box Office or by calling (573) 651-5000. Tickets also are available through Show Me Center ticket outlets, including Schnucks in Cape Girardeau and Disc Jockey Records in Cape Girardeau, Paducah, Ky., and Carbondale, Ill.

In addition, those purchasing tickets may register to win a one carat princess cut diamond anniversary tennis bracelet, courtesy of Michelson Jewelers. The bracelet will be awarded to the winner of a special drawing prior to the show, courtesy of the University's 125th Anniversary Celebration.

The Goo Goo Dolls, one of the most promising young bands in America, will perform in concert at 8 p.m. April 9 in the Show Me Center.

The Goo Goo Dolls feature John Rzeznik, on vocals and guitar, Robby Takac on bass and vocals, and Mike Malinin on drums. The group has blossomed into stardom recently with two songs, "Slide" and "Iris," both on Billboard's Top 20 hit list. "Iris," which the group contributed to the soundtrack for the film "City of Angels," quickly became a fixture in the public consciousness, breaking scads of radio play records and setting the stage for the band's long-awaited sixth album, "Dizzy Up The Girl."

The Goo Goo Dolls began in Buffalo, N.Y., and got their start on the small but lively Buffalo music scene in 1986. With a loyal local following, they released their first independent album, Goo Goo Dolls a year later. In 1989, the group signed with Los Angeles-based indy powerhouse Metal Blade Records and released "Jed." By that time, word on the grapevine had already made them a major club attraction throughout the Midwest with growing pockets of followers on both coasts. The Austin American-Statesman predicted that the band "just might be to the '90s what R.E.M. and the Replacements were to the '80s."

With that kind of response, the group began attracting major label attention. In 1991, they released "Hold Me Up" and non-stop touring ensued. In between time, the band recorded an original song, "I'm Awake Now" for the soundtrack to "Nightmare on Elm Street 6." In the spring of 1992, they returned to the studio to begin work on a new album.

In early 1994, the group returned to Buffalo to begin writing and pre-production on what would become, in 1995, "A Boy Named Goo." During the next two years, the group went on the road and played to progressively larger audiences.

Tickets for the Show Me Center concert are $20. A limited number of tickets -- 800 -- are available to students through the Student Activities Council (SAC) Advantage Program. Tickets are on sale at the Show Me Center Box Office and at the Show Me Center ticket outlets, including Schnucks in Cape Girardeau and Disc Jockey Records in Cape Girardeau, Paducah, Ky., and Carbondale, Ill. For more information, call the Show Me Center at (573) 651-5000.

In addition, those purchasing tickets may register to win a one carat princess cut diamond anniversary tennis bracelet, courtesy of Michelson Jewelers. The bracelet will be awarded to the winner of a special drawing prior to the show, courtesy of the University's 125th Anniversary Celebration.

Every week, KRCU is featuring a portrait of an historic Missourian on Missouri Biography. Based on his own work, The Dictionary of Missouri Biography, Dr. Lawrence Christensen hosts this weekly look into the lives of such Missourians as Scott Joplin, Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and Big Soldier. The weekly series is funded in part by a grant from The Missouri Humanities Council in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Richard S. Brownlee Fund for the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Missouri Biography draws on the achievements of Missourians from a range of experiences, fostering a greater awareness of our state’s rich historical and cultural heritage. A web site where listeners can ask questions electronically, listen to an audio rebroadcast of their favorite program, find related links, or review an annotated bibliography compliments the show at www.umr.edu/~christen/mobio.html.

Missourians will be featured from all walks of life and during all phases of Missouri history. The program is heard Saturdays at noon on KRCU 90.9 FM.

Russell Active In National Program To Boost Diversity In America's Corporate Work Force

Feb. 5, 1999 --

Dr. Keith Russell, professor of accounting, finance and business law at Southeast Missouri State University, is active in a national initiative to increase the diversity of America’s college and university classrooms.

Known as the PhD Project, this results-oriented, long-range effort by leading American businesses and academia will boost the likelihood that more minority students will enter and graduate from the nation’s business schools and later enter corporations across the nation. The PhD Project aims to advance this goal by acting as a catalyst for more African-Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans to pursue PhDs in business and become professors.

“The presence of minority professors as mentors and role models has been shown in research to be a determining factor in leading more minority undergraduates to enroll in business schools,” Russell said.

Russell is serving a second year as Professor-in-Residence for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). IMA has invested $100,000 and is one of several major national co-sponsors of the PhD project. Other co-sponsors include 75 of the nation’s most prestigious business schools, Citibank, Ford Motor Co. Fund, Fannie Mae Foundation, Texaco, Abbott Laboratories, James S. Kemper Foundation, Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation, Inc., and Mobil Corp.

Through the PhD Project, an extensive nationwide marketing campaign has been conducted to find successful minorities willing to give up their corporate jobs, return to academia to earn a Ph.D. and become a professor. The most promising of those who respond are invited to attend an annual conference. There, they meet with former business people who have already switched to academic careers, to learn what the transition entails.

Russell said there are currently 374 African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans who are enrolled nationwide in business doctoral programs, pursuing a Ph.D. that will qualify them to become business professors -- far more than ever enrolled previously.

“Throughout the United States, there are currently just 388 minority business professors,” he said. “This population took decades to amass and yet it still represents less than five percent of all business faculty. With the PhD Project, we are about to double that number.”

Bernard J. Milano, director of the PhD Project and executive director of the KPMG Peat Marwick Foundation, is the program’s creator and lead sponsor.

“The decades-long absence of minorities in front of the classroom is at least beginning to give way to a more diverse business school faculty. A population of minority business professors that took decades to reach, is now on the brink of effectively doubling a few short years.”

The PhD Project is a successful partnership of universities, prominent corporations, academic and professional organizations, and foundations. Established in 1994, is adds new incentive for young minorities to study business and then go to work in corporate America, helping to diversify it. The program also better prepares all business students for today’s multicultural work environment.

Dr. Keith Russell, right, professor of accounting, finance and business law at Southeast Missouri State University and professor-in-residence for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), presents a check on behalf of the IMA to Bernard Milano, coordinator of the PhD Project and executive director of the KPMG Foundation.

Cape Electrical Supply and Square D Co. recently teamed up to donate a complete motor control center to the Manufacturing Technology Resource Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Engineers from Square D were on hand this week to program the equipment and enable the Center to begin using this valuable teaching resource.

"On behalf of the Department of Industrial Technology, I would like to thank both Cape Electrical Supply and Square D for equipping our Manufacturing Technology Resource Center with this state-of-the-art motor control center," said Dr. Ralph Pittman, chair of the Department of Industrial Technology. "As our world advances technologically, it has become more and more important that we educate students who can apply technological innovations. This motor control center will give our students firsthand access to one of the latest industrial advancements in current manufacturing settings."

The motor control center consists of Square D components that would commonly be found in today's industrial facilities. At Southeast, the equipment will be used for educational, demonstration and training purposes.

"It features the latest in high-tech automation products used to run state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in today's computer software driven environment," said Bob Garrett, vice president of Cape Electrical Supply Co.

Among the key features are a variable frequency drive system, Square D's Modicon programmable controller and PowerLogic power monitoring equipment. The complete system is valued at more than $35,000.

The equipment will be available to students and those employed by local industries who avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the Manufacturing Technology Resource Center to learn the most advanced applications for plant automation and efficiency.

Dr. Athula Kulatunga, Southeast assistant professor of industrial technology, says motor control centers are used by industry to control different types of motors and industrial processors from one place. He says motor control centers also can monitor a number of variables in an industrial setting, such as flow of liquids, wattage and electrical power consumption.

Kulatunga says the system installed in the Manufacturing Technology Resource Center is the most advanced of its type on the market, adding that many industries do not yet have this model. This is a great benefit to students, he said, as they can be trained on the latest technology just before entering the workforce.

"They (Square D Co. and Cape Electrical Supply) have given us everything that one should expect in the future," Kulatunga said. "This is a real-world system. This kind of thing excites students."

The Manufacturing Technology Resource Center is a collaboration between AmerenUE and the Polytechnic Institute at Southeast Missouri State University. The Center's mission is to introduce new manufacturing and energy-efficient technologies to students, area manufacturers and the public through partnerships, because continuous training and education are pillars of successful industry. The Manufacturing Technology Resource Center is the flagship of the Polytechnic Institute's outreach efforts.

As a part of the continued development of the Center, this motor control center will play a central role in the ongoing efforts to educate students and the area's industrial workforce.

Cape Electrical Supply is the region's authorized distributor for Square D products. Based in Cape Girardeau, the company stocks, sells and provides technical assistance to area industry and commercial contractors on behalf of Square D. Cape Electric operates a 10-store network in a market area covering Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Northwest
Tennessee.

Square D/Group Schneider is a world leader in electrical distribution, automation and industrial control, products and systems.